In Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare, Hamlet occasionally shifts between sanity and insanity. Insanity is a virus; it scourges those it touches with negative thoughts and actions. It changes our apprehension regarding the known and unknown world. When being insane fits Hamlet's goal, he puts on an "antic disposition." On the other hand, when being sane benefits another goal, he returns back to being logical. Hamlet says he is "mad north-north-west," which means he is "mad" at times and sane other times. Therefore, he certainly displays some degree of insanity and instability throughout the play, but his "madness" is too obviously intended for one to assume that he was actually losing his mind.
The death of Hamlet's father may have caused a lapse in his logic, or it has forced the act of madness upon him so he could avenge his father. He shifts into this world of insanity to achieve his goal of avenging his father and uses his "insanity" as a weapon, applying insanity into the form of actions or words. Hamlet seemed to be constantly taken aback by the corrupt nature of everything around him, including his friends and family. This is why he is only insane towards his enemies or his enemy's allies. On top of that, his run-ins with the ghost of his father and his thoughts of suicide had him restless when it came to contemplating between life and death. He is also disturbed by the way his mother has gone about living. He believed that she has had an affair with his uncle and colluded in the death of her late husband, Hamlet's father. Unfortunately for Hamlet, he had trouble separating fiction and reality. He had difficulty drawing a line between emotions and life, which resulted in his emotions overpowering his true self. .
Hamlet's own mother is also unconsciously helping Hamlet's facade. Her lack of identity and foundation helps give the feeling that it is negatively influencing Hamlet to be lacking the same.
